Fjorde, their general Character.

45

Leaving the Nordfjord, where a week or two might well be spent, two days bring you to Vadheim, on the Sognefjord. En route you have Bredheimsvand, a lake singularly stern in character towards its head, and catch glimpses of glaciers crawling over the precipitous heights above Skei.

The Sognefjord, like many of these larger friths, resembles in plan the skeleton of a tree; and it is not so much along the main channel as in the offshoot, corresponding to branches and twigs, that the grandest scenery is to be found. Many of these are dark narrow lanes of water, bent into reaches which here and there expand to the size of lakes. Wooded precipices rise straight from the deep, and numerous cataracts roar down on all sides. Numbers of the falls remind one of the Swiss Staubbach-tassels of spray depending from some ledge, and swinging with the breeze thousands of feet above the fjord.

In

Not only are several of these small branches so fine, but the valleys leading down to them are often quite as remarkable. Fjærland and Jostedal (with their glaciers), Fortunsdal, Aardal, and Gudvangen, are the most interesting glens connected with the Sognefjord. To see Jostedal you land at Rönnei (a capital inn near Marifjæren station), and it is a day's ride up the glen to the extreme end. it, and the surrounding neighbourhood, are several large glaciers, generally longer and wider, but less inclined, than those on the Nordfjord; but the same tract of névé supplies all these ice-streams. Nigaardsbræ is one of the largest, which every tourist goes to see; and as there is no station or inn, it is usual to sleep at the clergyman's house. This gentleman receives a certain allowance to enable him to entertain strangers; but the sum is very small compared with the numbers who every summer use' his house; and as one can offer no remuneration beyond thanks in broken

'The glaciers of Fjærland are described in Excursion 2, Chapter V. 2 Near Aardal lies the Mörkfos, perhaps the grandest waterfall in Norway. See Chapter V. p. 66.

Norsk, I should advise all my mountaineering friends to put up at some gaard instead. Where there are ladies the case is different; and I may add, nothing can exceed the kindness and hospitality of the clergyman and his wife to all who come.

Nigaardsbræ, Tunbergsdalsbræ, and other glaciers of the district, are yearly diminishing in size. The first of the above has in front of it a desert, extending a good half mile along the glen; and this is ridged by a series of walls, of ancient terminal moraine. The walls form curved segments, with the concavities towards the ice, running nearly at right angles to the course of the glacier, and separated by zones of level ground, covered with shingle. Most of the stones in the moraines are small and rounded. Another remarkable feature about this glacier is the scraped appearance of the rocks which flank its base. This extends for 500 feet or more above the present level of the ice, and affords a good indication of the size of the glacier during former periods of its life.

There is an excursion, I once made, from Rönnei over the mountains to Veitestrand, a strikingly wild valley with two glaciers and a long lake. From this there are passes to Fjærland. We returned another way; viz. by boat down the lake, and, then landing, walked by Hillestad to Marifjæren. Pink snow is common on the mountains in this district. I have several times seen it.

Fortunsdal (at the end of the Lyster branch of this great fjord) lies under a second group or 'block' of highland, the Sognefjeld, probably the most remarkable of any in Norway. The Horungtinder, its culminating points, form a cluster of peaks; the highest said to be 8,000 ft. above the sea. These Tinder' or peaks are portions of sharp ridges, whose naked and nearly vertical sides are set in a framework of snow. In wildness of contour some of them might compete with the Matterhorn; mostly they are inaccessible, or, at any rate, have never been climbed. The loftiest is

one of the Skagastöltinder, the most easterly row. A glacier divides this from the Riigstinder, forming the centre arête; and a similar stream of ice lies between the latter and Dyrhaugdtinderne, towards the west. This last ridge is connected with a lofty overhanging spire. There is a grassy glen below the glaciers, with sæter on it, traversed by a horsepass leading to Lom; and, either from the pass, or from a height called Klippernaase above it, you have a wonderful view of the whole.

Eng.) miles from Berge to last station on the Fortun The journey is best broken

It is about 6 Norwegian (45 Rödsheim; the former being the side, the latter the first in Lom. by sleeping at Bævertun, a sæter about 28 English miles from where you start. The scenery during the first day is strikingly wild.

Norway's reputed highest mountain flanks a portion of the route. The Galdhöpigge (or 'Pike of Galdhö,' named after a farm at its base) is 8,533 ft. above the sea; or, measured from the stream in Bæverdal, it rises about 6,959 ft. These altitudes are taken from an old survey; a new one is now being made, and many begin to question the correctness of the former. Thus, some think that, if properly measured, one of the Horungtinder or the Knudstöltind (which lies in a wilderness of fjeld between Bygden and Gjenden lakes) may turn out to be the highest point.

I was staying some time at Rödsheim in 1866 (partly on account of bad weather), and after having been twice driven back by clouds, reached the top of Galdhöpiggen on August 18, a clear day. I had two guides, as there were glaciers to cross; and although the crevasses might turn out to be trifling, I thought it prudent to take a rope. Starting early in the morning from Rödsheim, 14 hours brought us to Raudbergstöl (a sæter), mostly by a cow-path winding up through a wood. From this we sloped up diagonally on to a broad 'back'-one could hardly term it a ridge. This, at first, is a track of débris and by far the worst portion of the route. It forms, as it were, the crest of the mountain, leading all the way to the summit, from which it is separated by a deep gap. Gently rising, we gained a tarn in a little more than three hours from the sæter. This lies under a glacier and is shored on the far side by a wall of ice. With its little icebergs it reminded me of the Märjelen See in Switzerland. I believe the whole excursion might be considerably shortened by following the valley to Bæverdal church, or to a point beyond it, and from there mounting straight to this tarn. The usual course from the tarn is along a stony tract bordering the east shore; we, unfortunately, chose the glacier on the other side, and found walking very laborious, owing to a thick skin of fresh snow. Our progress was very slow, although at times nearly on a level; the wavy 'back' being above us on our right, while to our left (below the glacier) was Visdal, whence the ascent

is also sometimes made. We had two glaciers to traverse, both of them smooth but with narrow crevasses beneath the snow. The first is called the Styggebræ, and the other the Tvæbottenbræ; they are divided by a ridge, and the latter flows directly from the top. A spur-like ridge, projecting from the steep snow slopes of the highest portion of the mountain, enabled us to reach the summit. This is a plateau of snow with vertical precipices on all sides but one. We had been 6 hours from the sæter; but had the snow been harder, should have done it in, at least, an hour less. The top commands a view, the wildest I ever saw. In nearly all directions, but especially towards the south, ridges and pinnacles rise one behind another, each mantled with snow, like foamy waves of a colossal sea; and barring one with its lakes and rivers, the valleys appeared as dusky grooves, scarcely distinguishable. Not one house was to be seen even with a glass. Nothing was visible but forms of crag and snow-several mountains (the Glittertind,' in Visdal, for one) being spire-like. The panorama was almost a chaos, hundreds of square miles in extent. Still there were some signs of life— a hare had left her track across the top.

Ole Rödsheim (of Rödsheim) is a justly celebrated guide. Professionally a small farmer, he has taught himself English and some German, and, I believe, has a smattering of botany and mineralogy besides. From his station the carriage route to Lillehammer begins; you can drive there in from two to three days; thence by steamer and rail on to Christiania in one.

To return to the Sognefjord. From the village of Lærdalsören there is a road viâ the Fillefjeld and Valders to Christiania; a journey of four or five days. The approach to the fjeld is good and the scenery of the Lille Mjösenvand fine.

1 For an account of an ascent of this mountain, see 'The Glittertind and Uledalstind in Norway,' by T. L. Murray Browne, in Vol. V. 'Alpine Journal,' number for February 1871. The paper is very interesting as giving a good sketch of the mountain route between Bæverdal and Nystuen.

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